School of Education

Research Interests

As an educational technologist (lecturer level) at The UWI, School of Education, St. Augustine, Trinidad and the blended learning champion for this department, Dr Debra Ferdinand-James' research interests include faculty engagement in blended learning, technology-enhanced learning, mixed methods research, curriculum inclusiveness, early career faculty development, quality assurance, and student academic supporting strategies. Debra Ferdinand-James also collaborates, as a member of the Industry 4.0. Task Force, University of Naples Federico II, Italy, with international researchers on joint publications in keeping abreast of technological changes in industry as a TVET/Workforce Development researcher/lecturer and educational technologist..

Selected Publications

• Said, M. M. T., Aravind, V. R., Ferdinand-James, D., & Umachandran, K. (2019). Dissecting assessment: A paradigm shift towards technology-enhanced assessments. World Journal on Educational Technology: Current Issues, 11(2), 24-32.

• Umachandran, K, Della Corte, V, Amuthalakshmi, P., Ferdinand-James, D, Said, M. M. T., Sawicka, B., Del Gaudio, G., Mohan, T. R., Refugio, C. N., & Aravind, V. R. (2019). Designing learning skills towards Industry 4.0. World Journal on Educational Technology: Current Issues, 11(2), 12-23.

• Ferdinand-James, D., & Umachandran, K. (2018). Leveraging environmental education for achieving sustainability. In Urvashi Makkar (Ed.), Achieving sustainable strategic advantage (pp. 116-121). New Delhi, India: Bharti Publications. (6 pages)

• Jurcic, L., Umachandran, K., Aravind, V. R., & Ferdinand-James, D. (2018). Industry 4.0: Unleashing Its Future Smart Services. In B. Plazibat (ed.)  Conference Proceedings of Contemporary Issues in Economy & Technology – CIET 2018 (pp. 1-830), Split, Croatia: University of Split, University Department of Professional Studies: ISBN 978-7220-29-7 (10 pages)

• Umachandran, K., Jurcic, L., Della Corte, V., & Ferdinand-James, D. (2018). Industry 4.0: The New Industrial Revolution (Chapter 6). In Nilanjan Dey and Sharvari Tamane (Eds.), Big Data Analytics for Smart and Connected Cities, PA, USA: IGI Global: ISBN 13: 9781522562078 (19 pages)

• Ferdinand, D. (2017). Asynchronous debates. In J. A. Bowen and C. E. Watson (authors), Teaching naked techniques: A practical guide for designing better classrooms (p. 154/264). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

• Foogooa, R., & Ferdinand-James, D. (2017). Using facebook to enhance student engagement in a blended engineering course. Innovative Issues and Approaches in Social Sciences, 9(3), 29-51. (22 pages)

• Umachandran, K., & Ferdinand-James, D. (2017). Affordances of Data Science in Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Education (Chapter 2). In Sharvari Tamane (Ed.), Privacy and Security Policies in Big Data, PA, USA: IGI Global. (20 pages)

• Umachandran, K, Ferdinand, D. S., & Jurčić, I. (2017). Inter-Org Sys. International Journal of Innovations in Engineering and Technology, 8(3), 247-253. (IF – 0.672)

• Watson, F. F., Bishop, M., & Ferdinand-James, D. (2017). Instructional strategies to help online students learn: Feedback from online students. Tech Trends, Celebrating the Practice of Distance Education, DOI 10.1007/s11528-017-0216-y. (8 pages; IF: 1.064, with 19% acceptance rate by Springer Editor).

• Ferdinand, D. (2016). Research e-Clinics: Reducing lags toward completion of graduate students’ master’s theses (Chapter 2). In Dan Remenyi (Ed.), The Innovation in Teaching of Research Methodology Excellence Awards: An Anthology of Case Histories 2016, Nr Reading, UK: Academic Conferences and Publishing International Ltd. (12 pages)

• Ali, S., & Ferdinand, D. (2016). Factors Affecting Implementation of CSEC IT- Programming Syllabus in Secondary School Classrooms: Perceptions of Selected IT Teachers in Trinidad. Caribbean Educational Research Journal, 4(1), 144-15. (14 pages) (First author past PhD research supervisee)

• Ferdinand, D., & Umachandran, K. (2016). Online assessment: Product development in academic writing. Maha Journal of Education, 2(1), 73-78.  (7 pages, Impact Factor 1.109, 3 citations)

•  Onuoha, C., Onuoha. P., & Ferdinand, D. (2016). Caribbean teachers’ perspectives on one-to-one ICT programme for enhancing teaching and learning: A case study of a boys’ high school. Journal of Educational Policy and Entrepreneurial Research, 3(7), 28-42. (14 pages, IF: 1.462, 1 citation) (First author former M. Ed. research supervisee)

• Ferdinand, D. (2015). Workforce education and development (WED) graduate students’ perceptions of cultural insensitivity in classroom teaching: A mixed methods study. Caribbean Educational Research Journal, 3(1), 27-43. (16 pages) (manuscript received high reviews by journal editor and included in study of MMR in the Caribbean)

• Ferdinand, D. (2014). Generation I: International and invisible in a workforce education and development graduate programme content. Caribbean Teaching Scholar, 4(1), 51-66. (15 pages)

Selected Presentations​

• Sharma, E., Sharma, S., & Ferdinand-James, D. (2019, July). Measuring teachers’ creativity nurturing behavior: Preparing students for life and work in the 21st Century. Creativity Conference. Southern Oregon University, Ashland, Oregon, U.S.

• Ferdinand-James, D. (2019, May). Deeper learning: Developing the distinctive UWI graduate’s key attributes in a blended Leadership in MATVET programme. 4th International Conference on TVET in the Caribbean, Montego Bay, Jamaica.

• Vasudeva, A., Ferdinand-James, D., Umachandran, K., Refugio, C., Della Corte, V., Del Gaudio, G., & Jurcic, I. (2019, March). Teachers as Designers of Learning: A Clarion Call for International Collaboration. 1INTED 2019: 13th International Technology, Education, and Development Conference Proceedings.   Valencia, Spain. ISBN: 978-84-09-08619-1

• ​Ferdinand-James, D. (September, 2018). Leveraging the Asynchronous Debate for Achieving Key Graduate Student Attributes. World Education Day 2018, Jinan, China. (Invited single presenter from The UWI and awarded speaker certificate for exceptional effort; Feedback from session Chair: This paper was the best in the session)

• Watson, F. F., Castano-Bishop, M., & Ferdinand-James, D. (October, 2018). Top Ten Online Instructional Strategies Preferred by Students. 2018 Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT) International Convention, Kansas, Missouri, USA.

• Watson, F. F., Bishop, M., & Ferdinand-James, D. (April, 2018). Unpacking the influence of online students’ perceived course satisfaction/dissatisfaction on their performance. Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Innovate 2018: Education Reimagined, Nashville, TN, U.S. (10 pages)

• Charles, C., & Ferdinand-James, D. (November, 2017). Teachers’ views on possible implications of the CSME for a common Caribbean teacher mentoring policy. TTATE Conference: Reimagining Teacher Education in a Post-Colonial Space. School of Education, The UWI, St. Augustine, W.I. (invited and accepted to be session Chair)

• Charles, C., & Ferdinand-James, D. (March, 2017). A research team’s paradigm shift: From predominantly quantitative to a Within-Stage Mixed Model Design in teacher mentoring research. MM Research C’bean Conference. The UWI, Mona, W. I. (High reviews included from MM expert, Prof. Jennifer Greene (aka Mother of MM): strong mastery of the core principles of Mixed Methods …)

• Ferdinand, D. (June, 2016). Academic Supporting Strategies for Students’ Graduate Research. Caribbean Tertiary Level Personnel 19th Annual Conference, Montego Bay, Jamaica. (4 pages, 1 citation)

• Ferdinand, D. (June, 2016). A case history of research e-clinics: Reducing lags toward completion of graduate students’ master’s theses. Innovation in Teaching of Research Methodology Excellence Awards. 15th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business Management, Kingston, U.K. (12 pages)

• Ferdinand, D., & Regis, B. (September, 2015). Piloting graduate research e-clinics. UWI Research EXPO 2015. UWI, St. Augustine, Trinidad.

• Watson, F., & Ferdinand, D. (April, 2015). Debating: A dynamic teaching strategy for motivating teachers and students, The 16th Annual Midwest Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Indiana University South Bend, Indiana, U.S.A. (6488 RG most read; 2 citations)

• Ferdinand, D. (March, 2015). Combining mixed methods designs: Follow-Up Sequential and Within-Stage Models. Mixed Methods Research Caribbean Conference, University of the West-Indies, Mona, Jamaica.

• Ferdinand, D. (May, 2014). Championing blended learning in higher education: Reflections on lessons learnt. OAS Virtual Educa 2nd Caribbean Symposium,  P.O.S., Trinidad. (1 citation)

• Ferdinand, D. (October, 2013). Technology and social media in education. UWI Research Expo 2013, UWI, St. Augustine, Trinidad. (Among the top read articles on RG from the SOE with 3883+ reads)

• Ferdinand, D. (April, 2013). Culturally responsive ICT integration into teaching and learning. Biennial Conference of the UWI Schools of Education, St. Augustine, Trinidad.
   

Selected Research Impact

• Informing Graduate Research Practice: Shared Research e-Clinics as a practical strategy for supporting the completion of students’ research in “This Works For Me” virtual summit along with other international faculty for helping fellow faculty succeed in finding solutions to student research challenges in higher education. (2019, March)

• Citation Impact: Citations captured in Google Scholar and most read researcher on ResearchGate from the School of Education, The UWI, St. Augustine Campus and Trinidad and Tobago several times during 2015-2018.

• CNBST Scale Development: Caribbean member (administered instrument locally) of Research Team led by award winning researcher, Dr. Ekta Sharma, Ahmedabad University, India for validating the Creativity Nurturing Behaviour Scale for Teachers worldwide. The validated instrument would be used by teachers globally. ( August 2018 – present)

• Informing "Diversity" Practice and Policy: Invited and accepted to be IGI Global Webinar presenter (only one from The UWI) in sharing my dissertation research and published articles relating to student "diversity" on U.S. campuses, contributing to the dominant narrative on topic in U.S. mainstream media. (May, 2018)

• Informing UWI Graduate Attributes: Asynchronous Debates research, its chhapter contribution published in award winning author's text on "Teaching Naked Techniques ...", was selected by the World Education Day 2018 conference (only one from The UWI) for featuring effective practices in education around the World that focused on using the Asynchronous Debate for developing key UWI graduate student attributes. These Jose Bowen “naked techniques” or effective practices are also taught in faculty workshops in the U.S. in helping to design better classrooms. (September, 2018)

• Usefulness of Research e-Clinics: These e-clinics qualified for a Campus Research and Publication Fund grant (MPhil student included as research assistant) and was one of 12 finalists for Innovation in Teaching of Research Methodology Excellence Awards15th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business Management, Kingston, U.K on June 9-10, 2016. Feedback from the Research e-Clinics institutionalized and offered to all SOE M.Ed. students from April 2016-present included the following: Your feed-back was indeed helpful. It was on point. It provided a clearer picture on how I should conduct the analysis…; Correct [ed] misconception; the feedback aided me to complete the chapter that was causing some difficulty; Dr. Yamin-Ali, SOE Director, feedback: I think your initiative has sparked interest in others about how to do things differently at the SOE. It certainly did for me. 

• Academic Writing Product Development: Website developed to host academic writing quizzes emerging as a need from initial research on the e-clinics for helping students to overcome academic writing oversights. (2016-present)

• Academic Writing Support Services: Proposal approved for offering these services that were identified as needed from the Research e-Clinics but awaits funding. (2016-present)

• Research e-Clinics Adaptation: E-clinics as a service is being adapted for the Early Career Faculty Initiative in supporting publication efforts of early tenure-track faculty spear-headed by The UWI’s Human Resources Department, St. Augustine Campus. (2016 – present)