Institute of Work Psychology, International Conference, 2018 (Sheffield)

I participated in and gave an oral presentation at the international conference held by Institute of Work Psychology, from 19th to 21st of June, 2018, at University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Our study aimed to clarify possible mechanism why team diversity, particularly, value diversity had an inconsistent effect on team creativity in the literature. We examined the mediating effect of different types of team conflict, namely, task conflict, process conflict, and relational conflict on the above mentioned relationship. The moderating effect of team’s emotional intelligence was also studied, separately. We conducted a longitudinal study with the sample of 340 employees and also tested the hypotheses in laboratory sample of 200 undergraduate students. We hypothesized that team conflict mediated the relationship between team value diversity and creativity, and whether this relationship was positive or negative depends on specific type of conflict. Besides, team’s emotional intelligence was hypothesized to have a moderating effect on the relationship between team value diversity and creativity in the way that the relationship would be positive for high emotionally intelligent teams and negative for low emotionally intelligent teams.

The 3rd HR Division International Conference, Dublin, Ireland

I participated in the 3rd HR Division International Conference (HRIC 2019) from 9th to 11th January 2019 at Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland. The conference is co-organized by the American Academy of Management (AOM) and Dublin City University. I presented my research paper entitled ‘A Review of MBA Training Transfer Studies from The Consumer-Centric Perspective. The objectives of the paper are to evaluate the prior MBA training transfer studies from the perspective of Baldwin, Ford and Blume (2017)’s prescription and to provide suggestions for future Master of Business Administration (MBA) training transfer studies. Due to a limited generalization of short-term training transfer to longer term training programs, researchers have been interested in testing transfer of training from MBA programs to workplaces since over 20 years ago. A high criticism on ineffectiveness of MBA programs has also caused higher attention in examining MBA training transfer. However, since the review paper of Baldwin & Ford (1988), the process toward training transfer specifically in MBA context has not been well reviewed yet. This paper analyses the previous MBA transfer studies that were conducted in the periods between 1989 and 2017, particularly from the consumer-centric perspective of Baldwin, Ford and Blume (2017). A conceptual framework is developed for a better understanding of training transfer of MBAs in the past and for a guidance of the future MBA transfer studies.

17th International Asian Conference of Academy of Human Resource Development - Bangkok, Thailand

The official name of the conference was 17th International Asian Conference of Academy of Human Resource Development which held at The Sukosol Hotel, Bangkok on November 8-10, 2018. There was a program on November 7 for pre-conference workshop. The conference organizer was The Graduate School of Human Resource Development, National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok. There were 110 accepted papers and final 94 scholarly papers that presented in several parallel sessions and delivered various themes in the area of human resource development (HRD) including the topics of leadership development, national and international HRD, learning, training and education, diversity and cross-cultural management, ethical and critical issues in HRD, and organizational development. My accepted paper, generational differences in employee engagement: a case for public sector, was work-in-progress paper. I delivered my presentation at the second day (Nov 9th).

I had some comments as well as Q&A from some participants like recommended articles to be cited and suggestions for future studies at the conference and also there was one professor from Malaysia who has same research interest on employee engagement that disposed to be my examiner for my dissertation exam. From one of panel discussion session which topic related to publishing article, I as participants got many valuable insights related to the mechanism of publishing our journal article as this becomes one of the requirements of getting PhD degree in Hiroshima University.

As stated in the title, the purpose of my research is to examine varying degrees of employee engagement across generations at the public sector. Furthermore, the paper will be able to fill the gap of employee engagement research by comparing the level of employee engagement across generations, different measurement tools, and the level of employee engagement between those work for public and private sector. Since my research is quantitative, this research will collect data from distributing the questionnaires with the respondents will be those who work for Directorate General Taxes (public) and work for tax consultant (private) in Indonesia. The data will be analyzed by some statistical methods including CFA, ANOVA, and hierarchical regression.

The Impact of School Boarding on Adolescents’ Well-being in Rural China (Princeton, USA)

From August 21st to August 25th 2018, I attended the 10th International RAIS Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities organized by Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies (RAIS) in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. The conference was held for two days at Princeton University and I had the opportunity to present the research outcomes of my master’s thesis at the conference and received valuable comments from other researchers all around the world. This conference also provided the opportunity for me to exchange ideas with many international researchers and update the current knowledge of the related research field, which would encourage me to pursue my PhD degree further. Based on presenting at the international conference, I was considering publishing my research on the international Journal.

I received many questions as well as important feed-back. My research is to explore the causal effect of boarding at school on the well-being of a large number of Chinese children aged 5–15 years old in rural primary and junior high boarding schools. I used the national representative household survey in 2012 from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and utilized the Instrumental Variables approach and Coarsened Exact Matching method. I found that boarding at school is beneficial for students’ Chinese language grade, but no evidence on math grade and other nonacademic outcomes. However, subgroup analyses show that the effects might be driven by male students, and those from non-migrant parent(s) families. These results and the possible reasons behind these findings are discussed in the presentation.

I was the first time to participate in the international conference. I learned a lot through this experience. I would like to thank my supervisor Daisaku Goto for his encouragement and support throughout and the financial support from Hiroshima University. This experience was as precious as the experience of the two years I studied in Japan. I hope more international students can take the appreciated opportunity to explore their academic path.

The 14th World Congress of International Federation of Scholarly Association of Management (Shanghai)

I had an opportunity to present my masters research in the 14th World Congress of International Federation of Scholarly Association of Management held in Shanghai on June 8th to 10th, 2018. My research interest was on the high performing human resource practices in the organizations. The underlying mechanism of how high-performance human resource practices (HPHRPs) influencing firm level outcomes is yet to be explored to the full extent. A very significant step in this process is the mediation of HPHRPs on the employees’ attitudes. Our study examined how perceived HPHRPs by the employees in an organization influences their intention to remain with the organization. To better understand the process, we included both affective commitment and work engagement of the employees to the model. Additionally, as an influential individual characteristic, proactive personality was included both as an independent and moderation variable. The nature of this relationship has been studied under the theoretical base of social exchange theory and Job-Demand Resource model. For this study a questionnaire-based survey has been conducted on the employees working in nine branches of a Bank in Bangladesh and 221 observations were obtained. The model was tested using partial least squares structural equational modeling in smartPLS software. The results showed that HPHRPs and proactive personality influences on employees’ retention intention only through both the employees’ affective commitment and work engagement. HPHRPs and work engagement do not influence the employees’ intention to remain with the organization directly. Moreover, no significant interaction between HPHRPs and proactive personality was found to be positively influencing employees work engagement. Different studies separately showed HPHRP and proactive personality as significant antecedents of work engagement, which in turn influence employee outcomes. In this study we attempted to explore the consequence on employee attitude when both HPHRP and proactive personality is considered to have its influence on work engagement, in a way where the relationship between HPHRP and employee engagement gets stronger for the employees with proactive personality. However, we did not find any significant interaction between HPHRP and proactive personality.

The 1st International Conference on Contemporary Issues on Economics, Management & Business 1st CIEMB 2018 (Hanoi)

I had presented an oral presentation titled "The impacts of investment climate on firm productivity: Evidence from small and medium manufacturing enterprises in Vietnam" at the International Conference on Contemporary Issues on Economics, Management & Business CIEMB 2018 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

My study examines the relationship between investment climate and firm productivity by exploiting a unique and latest survey dataset of 2649 enterprises operating in the manufacturing sector in Vietnam. The empirical results indicated significant associations between firm productivity and several key determinants including Internet usage, corruption, and access to finance. Furthermore, the impacts of the investment climate factors on firm productivity were also robust to various kinds of classifications and revealed some remarkable results with respect to specific industries and regions. It is highlighted that productivity in Food and drink sector in Vietnam was not affected by corruption. Furthermore, access to finance played an important role in improving firm productivity in Metal and Machinery industry. With regard to regional effects, the findings indicated that firms in the Southern Vietnam were more sensitive to corruption than those in other regions. Another important result is that the Central Vietnam was the most affected region by quality of workers and electric outage. These findings suggested that the increase of firm productivity should focus not only on specific services, including infrastructure and access to financial facilities, that firms need but also on addressing governance and intuitional issues, and especially corruption reduction.

The conference is considered as a bridge connecting professors and researchers in the same field. Attending this such conference gave me a chance to update new knowledge related to my field. In addition, I have received valuable comments and suggestions that help me to improve my current research.

In conclusion, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation and Professor Tran Dang Xuan for supporting finance and giving me an opportunity to present my research at the conference.

International Conference on Sustainable Agricultural for Rural Development (ICSARD), Purwokerto, Indonesia

We have participated in the International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture for Rural Development (ICSARD) in Purwokerto, Indonesia, from 23rd to 24th October 2018. This conference was held in Java Heritage Hotel and attended more than 300 participants. The tittle of our presentation was “Phenolic acids as plant growth inhibitors from Tridax procumbens L.”. In our research, we identified and quantified phenolic acids from T. procumbens and assayed them on germination and growth of radish (Raphanus sativus). Four phenolic acids namely benzoic acid, ellagic acid, vanillin, and ferrulic acid were identified and quantified from a fraction of ethyl acetate extract of this plant by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Vanillin was the major constituents (364.689 µg/mg fraction) followed by benzoic, ellagic, and ferrulic acids (69.888, 17.589, and 3.590 µg/mg fraction, respectively). In the germination and growth assays, benzoic acid presented the most inhibitory effects (IC₅₀ of germination = 5.148 mM). This compound decreased root elongation and shoot growth with IC₅₀ values were 0.947 mM and 3.452 mM respectively. This study revealed that T. procumbens possessed phenolic acids that can be utilized as plant growth inhibitors and benzoic acid might play a role in the phytotoxic property of this plant. In this conference, we reported T. procumbens as plant growth inhibitors and a potential source for natural herbicide development. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC), Hiroshima University and Professor Tran Dang Xuan for his supports to participate in this overseas conference.

The Fourth Australasia and South-East Asia Structural Engineering and Construction Conference (Brisbane) に参加して

2018年12月3-5日にオーストラリアのブリスベンで開催された第４回オーストラレーシアおよび東南アジア構造工学会議に参加させていただきました。私はGround Strengthening Method by Multistage Local Consolidation（多段階局所圧密による地盤強化工法）という題目で、多段階局所圧密（局所的な圧密強化を多段階的に行う地盤強化工法）について、有限要素法による三次元弾塑性解析を用いて地耐力増大効果を検証した結果を報告させていただきました。軟弱地盤の圧密問題において、圧密層の全体を圧密して強化させる従来の方法ではなく、圧密強化を局所的に行うことにより、短時間で必要な領域を効果的に圧密させる地盤強化工法として多段階局所圧密の適用可能性を検討しました。多段階局所圧密は従来の方法に比べて、載荷領域を縮小することができるため経済性に優れており、圧密の進行速度も早いため短期間で施工可能です。多段階局所圧密を適用することで、地耐力を大きく増大させ、解析結果からも軟弱地盤の地耐力を初期状態と比べて約2.5倍まで増加させることがわかりました。小さな耐力しかない軟弱地盤が、多段階的に圧密強化していくことで、次第に大きな載荷重にも耐え得る強固な地盤に成長できることを発表しました。

私は今回初めて国際学会に参加させていただきました。日本の学会との違いや海外の最新研究、文化などを知ることで、非常に有意義なものとなりました。最後に、研究ならびに発表をご指導くださいました山本先生、そして支援していただきました関係者の皆様に深く感謝いたします。

The Fourth Australasia and South-East Asia Structural Engineering and Construction Conference (Brisbane) に参加して

2018年12月3-5日にオーストラリアのブリスベンで開催された第4回オーストラリアおよび東南アジア構造工学会議に参加させていただきました。私はCrushing Characteristics of Soil Particle on the Effect of Stress Path（土粒子の破砕性状に及ぼす応力履歴の影響）という題目で、杭基礎底部等の高圧条件下で生じる粒子破砕現象が砂の変形・強度特性に与える応力経路の影響に注目し、粒子破砕を考慮した構成関係式を推定した結果を報告させていただきました。そこで、検討する応力経路として、三主応力（σ1 ~ σ3）空間におけるπ面上でのLode角θの違いを採用した結果、Lode角θによる影響はほとんどないことが分かりました。一方、粒子破砕現象による土の体積減少によって建物が沈下する可能性を考慮するために、粒子破砕及び応力経路による影響を加味した新たな構成関係式を導出しました。そして、この構成関係式における未定係数を最小二乗法で算出した結果、非常に高い近似精度が得られました。また、これらの結果を利用することで、杭基礎を採用した建物等の沈下量を推測することに役立てられることを発表しました。

私は今回初めて国際学会に参加させていただきました。日本の学会との違いや海外の最新研究、文化などを知ることで、非常に有意義なものとなりました。最後に、研究に関わる実験への協力や発表をご指導くださいました山本先生、そして支援していただきました関係者の皆様に深く感謝いたします。

IASTEM-501ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDICAL, BIOLOGICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES (ICMBPS)

On November 26 & 27, 2018, I attended the IASTEM-501ST international conference on medical, biological and pharmaceutical sciences at Hanoi Pearl Hotel, Hanoi City, Vietnam. Since my research is about investigating active components and biological activity of higher plants, this conference provided an opportunity for practice and constructive dialogue.

This conference was an international forum which consisted of researchers and scientists who are experts in biochemistry. Therefore, it was an ideal platform for an early result of my work. In this conference, I presented an oral presentation for fifteen minutes. My presentation titled: “Isolation and identification of antioxidant compounds from Piper methysticum root”. I reported an activity-guided trial to isolate and purify the antioxidant compounds using column chromatography under direction of in vitro methods. After that, I received many constructive comments and useful suggestions from academic researchers and experts to improve the quality of my research. My presentation was then selected to be awarded “2018 IASTEM International Conference Excellent Paper Award”.

Through this conference, I also gained a lot of valuable learning experiences. I had a chance to approach a number of Professors from different countries and learn excellent knowledge from them. Additionally, I discussed and exchanged academic knowledge and research findings with many international students who have similar research interests.

I would like to thank the Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University for providing me with partial financial support for this conference. By taking this conference, I enriched my experience with more information, knowledge and confidence. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my main supervisor, Associate Professor Tran Dang Xuan for his dedicated guidance and constant advice to help me accomplish my presentation. Additionally, I would also like to extend my thankfulness to Mr. Truong Ngoc Minh for his kindness and support for my experiment.

The 6th AASIC (Asian Academic Society International Conference), 8-10 November 2018 at Mae Fah Luang University (M-Square Building) in Chiang Rai Thailand

My presentation entitled “Appraisal of Burma/Myanmar’s Roundabout Roadmaps” is a comparative study of the two seven-step roadmaps of the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government and State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). I argue that amending the 2008 Constitution in accordance with a Union Peace Accord, and the subsequent approval of the amended constitution, may cause tension and pressure to be dealt with by the government, the Tatmadaw (the Myanmar military), and ethnic groups. The 2008 Constitution preserved the legal instruments that enabled the Tatmadaw to intervene as a “guardian” in the political arena. On the other hand, the NLD-led government has no clear policy in terms of the implantation of its roadmap. Where roadmaps are described as plans, how they are implemented is what connects to real material, economic, and political effects. The ongoing struggle for peace and reconciliation in Burma/Myanmar is a by-product of conflicting interests over the constitutional principles between the successive regimes and the people. Ethnic armed conflict will be put to an end once a political guarantee is implemented in accordance with democratic principles that assure civilian supremacy. Settling rifts between and among stakeholders is a key step toward reaching a union peace agreement and ultimately toward building a democratic federal union as planned in the NLD’s seven-step road map. The presentation contained four main sections: (i) the seven-step roadmap of the SPDC; (ii) the peace process initiated by the hybrid government that took power in 2011; (iii) NLD’s Roadmap for National Reconciliation and Union Peace; and lastly, and (iv) the substance and process of peace and reconciliation according to NLD’s roadmap. Therefore, there are three crucial issues to confront in order to reach the final step of the NLD’s roadmap. The first is to get a political guarantee that affirms a democracy and a federal union state. Second, until or unless the Tatmadaw is willing to take national security under civilian supremacy, the peace process will be futile. And finally, the 2008 Constitution explicitly states that the Tatmadaw is mainly responsible for safeguarding the Constitution. The constitutional amendment procedure is dependent on the good political will of the Tatmadaw.

“2018 ACR EPP Annual Conference”, Washington, D.C., USA

The 2018 ACR-EPP Conference was held on 13 and 14 June (in addition to the pre-conference training day conducted on 12 June) and was hosted by George Mason University, United States of America. As a delegate, with the impetus of the thought that a peace agreement’s implementation is often severely affected by the disputes over the status (or the initiatives of the state ruling parties) of the agreements’ clauses (sections), I presented a paper titled “Disputes over the Status of Peace Agreement Implementation: Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh” in an open space presentation. In the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), the south-eastern part of Bangladesh, a peace agreement had been signed in 1997 between the representatives of the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) (United People’s Party of CHT), the political representatives of the Hill people, in order to end the two-decade-long conflict between the mainstream Bengali elites and the ethnic minorities living in the said area. Including several contentious challenges, the implementation issue concerning the CHT Peace Agreement has been seriously affected owing to the disputes over the status of the Agreement’s implementation. For instance, on the one hand, the GOB claims that 48 sections (provisions) among the 72 sections of the Agreement have already been implemented, while the rest of them have been partially implemented or are under process. On the other hand, PCJSS’ Chairman claims that only 25 sections have been implemented, excluding numerous crucial sections (sources were cited during the presentation). In this paper, by analysing certain crucial sections of the Agreement, I addressed the gap analysis disputed by the primary signing parties (GOB and the PCJSS) over the status of the CHT Peace Agreement. After I concluded my presentation, a few intellectuals seated among the audience conducted a scholarly discussion pertaining to my arguments. I also joined a few other sessions directed by prominent scholars and have gathered substantial knowledge about peace discourses.

International Conference on Research in Social Science & Humanities (ICRSSH) – Bangkok, Thailand

Conference Name: International Conference on Research in Social Science & Humanities (ICRSSH) – Bangkok, Thailand

Venue: KU Home, Kasetsart University, Chatuchak, Bangkok, Thailand

Dates: 18-19 December 2018

My presentation topic was very closely related to my Thesis, and the topic of my presentation was “Social Media as a Peacebuilding Tool – Case of Pakistan”. I presented few cases of other countries that how they are using Social Media for Peacebuilding and compared their dynamics with my country, Pakistan, where the technology is advancing very quickly and number of social media users is increasing very quickly, I analyzed the situation through the data I have collected and I presented my recommendations in the end.

Pakistan is a diverse country with various religious groups living there. From time to time, they face challenges like religious hatred and hate speech. Sometimes, this hate speech is converted into serious incidents. Few such incidents that happened in the past are burning of churches, killing of religious minorities, bomb blasts targeting religious minorities and many other hate crimes based on religion are in abundance. People are using social media to spread hate and radicalization among young population of the country. So the government and other responsible organizations should start working on countering this maligned usage of social media. For that, there are 3 most prominent ways

- To create awareness using the available social media channels

- User should be educated and he/she needs to be responsible when sharing content online.

- Government and concerned authorities can use social media channels to counter hate speech and false news

- Law enforcement agencies can use social media to track and apprehend the perpetrators who are responsible for spreading hate using social media.

42nd Annual Meeting of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Sweden, Umeå) に参加して

2018年7月3日～8日、スウェーデンのウメオ大学において開催された42nd Annual Meeting of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education（第42回数学教育心理学会国際会議）に参加しました。

発表内容は、フィリピンの小学校数学教師の教授的推論過程における問題の発生過程とその構造についてです。発表時間15分質疑応答10分で行われました。調査に用いた質問紙の内容とインタビューの実施方法、データ解釈の妥当性に関することが質問されました。また、参加者の国々においても教師の指導力が問題視され、教師教育の重要性を再認識する議論が活発に交わされました。

6日間の国際会議では、著名な先生方の講義、個人やグループの研究発表、ワーキンググループなど多彩な学びの場が設定されていました。私が参加したワーキンググループでは、欧米やアジアの数学のカリキュラム（日本では学習指導要領に相当）を比較し、ディスカッションをしました。そこで興味深かったことは、「理解（understanding）」という言葉１つにしても、カリキュラム上の使用頻度や概念の違いがあることでした。日本からの参加者が私ひとりであったため、「日本で使う『理解する』とはどういうことか」と質問をされ、具体例を用いて説明しました。「他」を学ぶと同時に「自」の特殊性に気づかされた国際学会でした。

The 5th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE) 2018 (Bali, Indonesia)

My name is Nur Robiah Nofikusumwati Peni, an Indonesian 2nd-year doctoral student. Last year on 9th-10th October I have an opportunity to present one of my paper entitled “Consideration of Curriculum Approaches of Employing Ethnomathematics in Mathematics Classroom” in the 5th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE) 2018 in Harris Hotel, Bali, Indonesia. It was my first time to visit Bali island, so I am grateful to have the chance to attend one of the famous islands in my own country due to the conference issue.

The conference’s theme is about “Collaborative Research on Science, Mathematics, and Education: Its Application as the Development of Sustainable Resources.” I had to attend the presentation by the two keynote speakers from Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education of Republic in Indonesia and the Rector of Semarang State University. Other invited speakers are from Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom as well as Indonesia.

I got a chance to present my research for 15 minutes and 10 minutes for question and answer. Unfortunately, no one has a question towards my presentation; I just got some encouragement from the audience relates to the importance of my research. According to the information from the conference website, the papers of this conference will be published in Local Proceeding with ISBN and the Selected Papers will be published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series (SCOPUS indexed), Biosaintifika: Journal of Biology & Biology Education (Nationally Accredited), and Jurnal Pendidikan IPA Indonesia (SCOPUS indexed). By the end of this month, I just finished the revision of my paper after the presentation and sent to them again for the second review. Hopefully, my paper able to pass the criteria of the peer review so I can contribute to my country due to the significance of my research. This kind of chance is beneficial to me to polish up my research and open my mind to see how other researchers are doing and what kind of new issues arise especially in mathematics education. I am looking forward this kind of chance in another country as well to get the information about what kind of problem does mathematics educators around the world are facing and how to address those issue as well as to see how mathematics education was developed in the different country.

The World Association of Lesson Studies 2018 International Conference, Beijing Normal University, China

I participated in the world association of lesson studies international conference which held at Beijing Normal ‎University, China from 23th until 26 November 2018. Since the conference theme was "Lesson Study and ‎Teacher Education: International Dialogue". I introduced an oral presentation titled by "Micro-teaching Lesson ‎Study (MLS) as a Form of Action Research an ‎Approach to Promote Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers' ‎Pedagogical ‎Content Knowledge". The main purpose of my participation was: reflecting the point of "implementing ‎lesson study practices within the context of initial teacher education" by taking experts' opinion in that area. ‎

Actually, it was an inspiring experience for me; meeting scholars, identifying new approaches and different perspectives. ‎In addition to, engagement with the international community. Because it was my first time to participate in an international ‎conference. I have learned how to formulate my idea (i.e. research interest) to submit to such conferences, how can I ‎explain my ideas and put it obviously within the education field. Besides, the most important thing is: how to accept ‎the diversity of approaches and interventions especially within the international community of practice. in that ‎communities, neither right nor wrong answer is the issue but the issue is how to integrate and implement the ‎fundamental successful notions to fit with the different contexts of our countries.

The 5th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE) 2018 (Bali, Indonesia)

I have an opportunity to present one of my paper entitled “Development of Computer Simulations to Overcome Students’ Misconceptions on Light and Optical Instruments” in 5th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education on 8-9 October 2018. The venue of the conference is in Harris Hotel & Residence Sunset Road, Bali, Indonesia. Thus, I am very grateful for having a chance to visit one of the famous islands in Indonesia.

In this conference, I presented my research for 15 minutes and 10 minutes for question and answer. I got several questions and suggestion from the audience related to improving my research. My research study aim was to develop computer simulations on light and optical instruments topic for junior high school students. The simulations are developed according to the students’ misconception having assessed with two-tier multiple choice test of light and optical instruments concept. The simulations are reviewed by six science teachers to gain comments and suggestion for further development using a set of questionnaires which consists of 10 items with 5-point Likert scale. The items of the instrument are created to assess simulations from aspects of content explanation and its deepness, display, language use, content, curriculum, and students’ misconception. The results of the study showed that: (1) The computer simulations program is suited with the contents in the science curriculum, (2) The quality of computer simulations based on science teacher responses is in very good criteria. Computer simulations provide a bridge between students' prior knowledge and the learning process of new concepts, also helping students develop scientific understanding through an active reformulation of their misconceptions. In conclusion, computer simulations are feasible for junior high school students to overcome misconceptions on light and optical instruments concept.

According to the information from the conference website, the papers from this conference will be published in Local Proceeding with ISBN and the Selected Papers will be published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series (SCOPUS indexed), Biosaintifika: Journal of Biology & Biology Education (Nationally Accredited), and Jurnal Pendidikan IPA Indonesia (SCOPUS indexed). I just finished the revision of my article and sent it back to the reviewer for the second review. Hopefully, my paper able to pass the criteria of the peer review and can be published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series (SCOPUS indexed).

2019 Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong Spring Conference（香港）に参加して

2019年３月16〜17日に香港教育大学で開催された“2019 Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong (CESHK) Spring Conference”に参加しました。CESHKは香港を中心として広くアジア地域の教育機関からの会員で構成されており、この地域における教育分野の研究者間の見識の交換とパートナーシップの発展に貢献している学会です。私は“Social Integration of International Students in Japan Through Job Hunting”という題目で口頭発表を行い、就職活動の過程で日本国内の外国人留学生のホスト社会への所属の意識や帰属の感覚がどのように促進されるかについて分析を披露しました。自身の発表を振返ると、何度も練り直した原稿を宙で諳んじることが出来るまで練習した発表パートは手応えがあったのですが、質疑応答パートでは英語での説明の精度が落ちてしまう点がやはり課題として残りました。アカデミックな英語力の一層の向上に努めるのはもちろんのこと、発表の中で直接言及する予定はないけれど、発表に関連する周辺知識を英語で説明出来るようにしておくなど、より周到に事前準備をする必要があると感じました。

ICMSE2018: “Collaborative Research on Science, Mathematics, and Education: Its Application as The Development of Sustainable Resources”

I had presented an article at the International Conference at Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE) from 8-9 October 2018 at Harris Hotel and Residences Sunset Road Bali (Jl. Pura Mertasari, Sunset Road-Kuta, Bali, Indonesia). This conference covered many fields in education in many levels from elementary school until senior high school level. I had presented one point of my PhD research that talks about An Outline of Worldwide Barriers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education. STEM Education is known as an interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with real-world lessons in contexts that make connections among school, community, work and the global enterprise. Moreover, the barriers have been investigated in the intrinsic, extrinsic, and institutional domains by reviewing the literatures and related works. In STEM education, intrinsic barrier focuses on the personality of teacher and student; extrinsic barrier is mainly resulted from inadequate and or inappropriate arrangement of infrastructure. Meanwhile, institutional barrier is specific to curriculum, policy, technology, as well as organizational sustenance in the education field. From the twelve of sixty previous studies in data resources, the obtained percentage of barriers are 38% for intrinsic, 33% for institutional and 29% for extrinsic, respectively. It has been revealed that these domains have quite a similar percentage, but intrinsic factor comes up as the strongest barrier in STEM education. This result can be a starting point to observe and find what and how STEM education can be implemented in Indonesia based on Indonesian’s need.

Participating in ICMSE conference has helped me to build interaction with a lot of researchers and update the knowledge about curriculum development, especially about STEM education in Asian countries.

I would like to thank Hiroshima University, IDEC and Professor Tsutaoka Takanori to giving me a chance and support to present my research in this international conference.

The 2nd Annual International Conference on Mathematics and Sciences Education (ICoMSE 2018), Malang City, Indonesia

The 2nd Annual International Conference on Mathematics and Sciences Education (ICoMSE 2018) held in Malang, East Java Indonesia on 28-29 August 2018. This Conference is jointly organized by Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences State University of Malang, Indonesian Mathematical Society, Indonesian Chemical Society, Indonesian Physical Society, Indonesian Biology Consortium, Association of Computer Sciences Higher Education, Indonesian Sciences Educator Association, Indonesian Biology Education Association. Theme for ICoMSE 2018 is Innovative research in Mathematics and Science Education for The 21st Century. The Topics on ICoMSE 2018 are Mathematics Education, Biology Education, Chemistry Education, Physics Education, and Sciences Education.

In this conference, I present about Science learning should be accessible for all learners including students with visually impaired (VI). Students with VI apparently have the same cognitive abilities range and can master higher-order science concept as well. The purpose of this study is to explain that students with VI can learn science well if there is the right learning support tool by in-depth literature review. This in-depth literature review uses the following steps: selection of the articles, analysis the studies and categorization of the articles.  A total of seventeen journal articles from the year of 2009-2018 written in English on the topic of science learning for students with VI that divided based on how do the students with VI learn and teaching and learning science to students with VI. This literature was collected via the ERIC database website. Based on this literature reviews, students with VI can learn science well if there is a proper support tool for them to learn. If the teachers are able to apply the right learning model and are supported with good facilities such as orientation and movement, tactile and kinesthetic learning, auditory learning and accommodations, and assistive technology, it is possible that students with VI will be able to learn about science very well.

2018, 11th Biennial Conference of Comparative Education Society of Asia (Siem Reap, Cambodia)

I have participated in the 11th Biennial Conference of Comparative Education Society of Asia (CESA) from 11-12 May 2018 in Sokhalay Angkor Resort, Siem Reap, Cambodia. In this occasion, I have orally presented my research article on ‘Extra-curricular activities and the development of multicultural education in Indonesian pesantren’. Pesantren is an Islamic boarding school, where the students’ ages between 12-18 years old study and stay in the dormitories for 24 hours.  Recently, pesantren is portrayed as an intolerance Islamic school by some medias due to the connection of few numbers of its activists in some religious and cultural conflicts in Indonesia. In contrast, I try to observe and explore the tolerance side of this boarding school. I employed participant observation, interviews, and documents analysis to research some pesantrens in Central Java and Aceh provinces. I focus on extra-curricular activities (ECA) such as sports club, students’ organizations, arts and music groups, and so on, and its contribution to the development of multicultural education within the context of the students understanding and awareness of the Indonesian cultural diversity in terms of religions, ethnicities/races, and local cultures. The findings suggest that ECA in pesantren to some extent support the development of multicultural education through three ways; cultural diversity acknowledgment, training and practicing, and implementation. Cultural diversity acknowledgment is teaching the student on the knowledge of the diverse culture of Indonesia before doing the ECA. Training and practicing are allowing the students to study and exercise the huge, diverse cultures of the country, and implementation is the students directly experiencing these cultures in the schools and societies alike through ECA programs like Cultures and Arts performances and Home Staying in the rural area.

Taken as a whole, involving in this conference has increased my insight on current issues concerning multicultural education by receiving valuable feedback from and listening to the international researchers and scholars. In addition, generally, I have a positive opportunity to introduce pesantren, a genuine and local Indonesian Islamic education institution, to the international scope and audience. All of these will benefit me in progressing my further research and in completing my Ph.D. study.

Finally, I would like to highly appreciate and thank to IDEC Department Hiroshima University and Assoc. Professor Tatsuya KUSAKABE for assisting me with the financial support, thus my participation and presentation in this conference was possibly happened.

The 11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia Conferenceに参加して

この度、2018年5月10日から12日にカンボジアのシェムリアップで開催されたThe 11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia Conferenceに参加してまいりました。「Diversity of Student Capabilities and The Future Prospects of Human Capital in China's Private Higher Education: Comparative perspectives」の演題名で口頭発表をさせていただきました。20世紀に入ってから、中国の国公立大学の卒業者のみならず、大卒者の就職難問題が民営高等教育の卒業者にも支障を来した。つまり、民営高等教育における人的資本の質の停滞が社会的な負担となっている。そこで本発表では、中国民営高等教育における学生が持つ能力像と人的資本の潜在性・将来性を明らかにし、職業的な教育方針・内容と学生のニーズとのキャップが埋まれば、バランスのとれた専門的教育と職業的教育とが奏功し、より適切な労働市場に適切に教育された人的資本が入っていくことを報告しました。今回国際学会に参加し、比較教育の分野において著名な先生方の講演を拝聴し、質疑応答を通して様々な国の方々から質問をいただき、様々な意見交換を行うことができたことは大変貴重な経験となりました。今後もこれらの経験を踏まえ、学術活動に加え、語学力の向上に励んでいきたいと考えています。

最後になりますが、このような発表の機会を与えてくださった諸先生方、並びにご支援をいただいた国際協力研究科の皆様に心より感謝申し上げます。

Recent Reform of Unrecognized Madrasa Education in Bangladesh - A case study of English Education

I attended 11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia held in Siem Reap, Cambodia from 11-12 May, 2018. I took part poster presentation at the Senmonorom Ballroom (5th Floor) on Saturday 12th May, 2018. Given the presentation title, Bangladesh madrasa (Islamic Seminary) education market today presents two formal models for securing the teaching of traditional religious education: Alia madrasas, which are wholly or largely funded and controlled by the government; and Qawmi Madrasas, which are privately managed and funded by the community donations. In contrast to the unique quasi-public Alia madrasas, Qawmi institutions are primarily aimed at developing skills required to fulfill the duties of religious leaders. Looking at the present English syllabus at Secondary level of a Qawmi madrasa in Bangladesh as an example the study suggests potential recommendations to modify it for achieving the maximal goal of communicative competence in the target language.

11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia, CESA 2018, Siem Reap, Sokhalay Angkor Residence & Spa, Cambodia

From 10th to 12th May 2018 I attended the 11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia, CESA 2018 conference that was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The conference theme was “Education and Social Progress: Insights from Comparative Perspectives”.

My presentation was entitled ICT integration during teaching practicum in the face of National Standards for Teacher Education in Malawi. In summary, this policy study was done against a background of Malawi’s National Standards for Teacher Education (NSTE) launched in 2016. The purpose was to examine the coherence between NSTE (especially the standard on ICT integration into teacher education) and practice of ICT integration at one teacher education institution in the country. The specific questions were: 1) Is there coherence between NSTE and the teacher education continuum? 2)What policy coherence challenges can we derive from the application of NSTE in a teacher education institution context?

The analysis showed that there is ‘policy coherence’ between NSTE and the teacher education institution in terms of rationale for ICT as a required competence for pre-service teachers. However, one observed challenge was lack of continuum; that is, while preservice teachers were introduced to ICT at the teacher education institution through a single educational technology course, ICT integration was not emphasized during teaching practicum. This is in contrast with the principle that successful preparation of preservice-teachers’ ICT integration requires a focus on the entire teacher education program. The main practical insight drawn from this analysis was that the studied teacher education institution could consider paying greater focus on strengthening partnerships with other stakeholders such as teaching practice schools.

CESA 2018（シェムリアップ）に参加して

2018年5月10日から5月12日にカンボジアのシェムリアップで開催された11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia, CESA 2018に参加しました。私は「Toward collaboration of native and non-native teachers in Asian EFL」というタイトルで口頭発表をさせて頂きました。

日本など「外国語としての英語（English as a Foreign Language, EFL）」として英語教育を行う地域では、英語母語話者を中心とした外国人と現地の非英語母語話者が従事しており、互いの強みを活かした教員間の協働が推進されています。アジアEFLの文脈では、どのような要因が協働を促進・阻害するのかを明らかにすることを目的として、先行研究の分析ならびにタイにて英語科教員に対する聞き取り調査を実施しました。その結果、非英語母語話者教員の英語運用能力の低さ、ネイティブ信仰に起因する外国人教員の教育学的な知識・経験の不足、文化の差異などが阻害要因となっていることが明らかになりました。

今回初めて国際学会に参加し、自分の研究内容を問わず様々な国の方の発表を聞き、意見交換をすることができました。不慣れさゆえ、英語での質疑応答や会話は満足のゆく内容ばかりではなかったものの、大変良い経験となりました。今後も引き続き研究を続け、また発表の機会を頂けるよう精進したく思います。

最後に、このたびの海外発表にあたりご指導いただいた先生方、調査に協力していただいた皆様、ならびにご支援いただいた大学院生海外発表支援の関係者の皆様に心より御礼申し上げます。

The 11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia:“Education and Social Progress: Insights from Comparative Perspectives” (Siem Reap)

I joined the 11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia conference themed “Education and Social Progress: Insights from Comparative Perspectives” in Siem Reap, Cambodia from May 10th to May 12th 2018.

During the conference, I presented (oral) a paper titled “Relationship between Cooperating Teachers' Evaluation Feedback and Student Teachers' Reflection during teaching practicum in China” on May 12th 2018. The brief background of this study is that cooperating teachers’ evaluation feedback influences student teachers’ reflection. Moreover, although recent research emphasizes more on evaluation feedback to develop student teachers’ reflection, there is a dearth of empirical research exploring how cooperating teachers’ evaluation feedback influences student teachers’ reflection. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between cooperating teachers’ evaluation feedback and student teachers’ reflection during teaching practicum in China. In the end, the study concluded that: (1) cooperating teachers’ evaluation feedback has a strong positive correlation with student teachers’ reflection, especially on teaching skills; (2) there is inconformity between the status and effects of cooperating teachers’ evaluation feedback; (3) cooperating teachers need strengthen written evaluation feedback. After the 15-minute presentation, I received some questions and comments from the audience. For the research method, I was asked how I chose the universities and primary schools as my research sites. In addition, the further approaches for this study was also asked.

This was the first time for me to present my study at an international conference. I felt nervous from preparation to presentation. However, it was really a good experience both for my study and life. Firstly, I met many researchers and authors during this conference. Listening to interesting research findings and interacting with other researchers deepened my thinking of research and raised my research motivation. Secondly, attending an international conference gave me the chance to know more about other countries. For example, I experienced Cambodian cultures during the Cambodia traditional cultural show at the dinner party of this conference. I hope to participate in more conferences in the future.

The Effectiveness of Project-based Learning on Students’ Science Process Skills: A Literature Review

Conference Name: International Conference of Mathematics and Science Education

Period: 8-9 October 2018

Venue: Harris Hotel & Residence Sunset Road-Bali, Indonesia



This literature review purposed to analyze the effectiveness of project-based learning on students’ science process skills. The implementation of the New National Curriculum in Indonesian Education system has changed the demand for educational output. Indonesian curriculum emphasizes the achievement of students’ competencies, namely spiritual, social, knowledge and skills. Skills competency became an important part of the learning process to be achieved by the students. SPS is the part of skills competency that will improve in the science learning process. The government recommended several learning methods to help students achieve competencies. Project-based learning is one of the learning methods recommended by the Indonesian curriculum; it aims to help students achieve their skills competency. According to the situation, the researcher wants to find if project-based learning effective on improving students science process skills. The method used in this study is a literature review. First, the researcher defines project-based learning. Next step is to find information about how to conduct project-based learning and the important things to do in project-based learning. Then, the researcher synthesizes some information about work had been done to improve students’ science process skills in the previous study and make a connection with project-based learning. Based on the literature review, the researcher found there is two factors effect on students’ science process skills. The first factor is the activities on project-based learning engaged students to be more involved in the learning process, provide chances for students to own the learning process actively and having direct experience doing science. The second reason is that those activities allowed students to used their skills and improve. The finding indicated that activities in project-based learning are effective to improve students’ science process skills.

The 2nd International Conference on Research of Educational Administration and Management 2018に参加して

このたび、2018年10月18日にインドネシア、バンドン市で開催されたThe 2nd International Conference on Research of Educational Administration and Management 2018に参加させていただきましたのでご報告させていただきます。私は「Disparity of Academic Achievement in Indonesia」というタイトルで口述発表をさせていただきました。本研究では、インドネシアにおける学力格差の要因をマクロ・ミクロレベルでの分析から明らかにし、研究結果から学力向上に効果的であると考えられる教育政策についていくつかの提案を行いました。

本学会はインドネシアの多くの教育関係者及び研究者が参加されており、内容に関して質問やご意見を頂き、ディスカッションができたのでとても有益な学会参加となりました。また、他の参加者の発表から、インドネシアの教育開発に関する様々な知見を得ることが出来たため、大変貴重な経験となりました。

末筆ではございますが、研究のご指導をいただき、国際学会で発表する機会を与えてくださった国際協力研究科の先生方、並びにご支援をいただきました大学院生海外発表支援関係者の皆様に心より感謝申し上げます。

The 19th International Conference on Education Research (ICER), Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

The 19th International Conference on Education Research (ICER) was held at Hoam Faculty House, Seoul National University, South Korea from October 17th to 19th, 2018. With the theme of Education for Democracy and Social Justice at the Global, National, and Local Contexts, the conference was attracted researchers from various universities and institutions from South Korea and overseas. There were around 150 studies presented in both oral and poster session during the conference.

At this conference, one master’s student from IDEC, Hiroshima University presented a study with the topic related to the theme with the title “Science Educational Practices for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in Regional V Banyumas, Indonesia.” Scientific development in recent decades had, and will continue to have a significant influence on topics that have great importance for sustainable development amongst peoples to important issues related to technology-communication. Meanwhile, the more significant benefits that science brings are unequally distributed for all people. There still continuing exclusion of groups from the scientific knowledge and the benefits of its use, such as people with disabilities. Therefore, in the 21st century, science must become a good shared by all, for the benefit of all people.

The study was related to the SDGs 4 “to ensure inclusive, equitable quality education, and promote lifelong learning for all” especially for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students in special schools in the three Regencies of Banyumas, Central Java, Indonesia. Traditionally, the curriculum for deaf learners mainly involved in language acquisition. Now, the development of academic subjects has been extended to other materials to enrich their knowledge and related to their lives. Science as part of education should be accessible to all learners including children with SEN to promote inclusive practices in science learning which meet the needs and limitations of students’ conditions.

Science educational practices for DHH students assessed in terms of science classroom practices, the support provided by schools, teachers collaboration, and challenges in science learning for DHH students was presented at the conference. There were intrinsic factors of DHH students, such as literacy, sign language, cognition and motivation; and extrinsic factors such as policy implementation, instructional strategies, and resource that create barriers for DHH students in science learning. Science learning for DHH students still needs to be improved to fulfill the needs of all learners so DHH students can develop their self and achieved appropriate learning to gain scientific literacy.

The 19th International Conference on Education Research (Seoul, South Korea)

I participated in “The 19th International Conference on Education Research” from 17th to 19th October 2018 at Seoul National University, South Korea. It was launched under the main theme “Education for Democracy and Social Justice: Global, National, and Local Contexts”. I did my oral presentation on 17th October 2018 in a morning session. It was a thirty-minute presentation, including ten minutes for the question and answer session. My study investigated the factors which influenced students’ academic achievement at lower secondary education in the context of rural Cambodia. According to Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (2017), students’ achievement at lower secondary level has been reported to be very low, and most of previous studies only focused at primary schools. A total of 515 seventh graders of 20 public schools were randomly selected to complete the questionnaire, Khmer test, and Mathematics test. The results of these two tests were used as a dependent variable measuring students’ academic achievement. Factors at three levels - individual student, family, and school - were collected and used as the independent variables for the investigation. I used two analytical methods, Pearson Correlation and Multiple Regression, to answer to the two research questions. Pearson correlation analysis explained the association of student’s achievement with other independent variables, while Multiple Regression analysis explained how much independent variables of each level explained students’ achievement. The findings of this study revealed that intrinsic motivation, academic aspiration, part-time classes, and helpful and fair teacher positively correlated with students’ achievement. Furthermore, students’ achievement was significantly predicted by absenteeism, academic aspiration, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and fairness of teacher in the regression models. The findings are the vital indicators to draw the attention of all educational stakeholders to ensure that students obtain a decent academic achievement level for their future learning and job opportunities. Role of parents and teachers was also discussed in this study.