Judith J. Azcarraga 
De La Salle University, Philippines
Dear Editor,
The ICCE 2011 conference has given me a very meaningful learning experience as a PhD student. It has provided me a rare opportunity to meet and learn from experts in my field. All the sessions including the keynote speeches, discussions, workshops, tutorials and paper presentations I attended were extremely helpful, particularly for the writing of my dissertation proposal.
I was invited to participate in a One-to-One Mentoring where I had a chance to have a one-on-one discussion with a world renowned researcher and learn from his expertise. I was very fortunate to have a mentor who was one of our keynote speakers and a well-known ITS expert, Prof. Kurt Van Lehn. He gladly shared his thoughts on my paper presentation and his insights for my dissertation topic – which involves mining data on brainwaves and mouse behaviour of academic achievers while they are engaged in a learning system to classify and predict academic emotions of these learners. He gave very useful suggestions on how to conduct my experiments to collect valid data.
The conference sessions like the keynote speeches, workshops, tutorials, mentoring and Height of Graduate Students (HGS) have elucidated for me the various possibilities and techniques in scaffolding and enhancing the learning of a student. These sessions have provided me with information on how we can take advantage of ICT to transfer knowledge to students more effectively. Gadgets like mobile phones, tablets, cameras, MP3 and PCs are accessible and useful for students. As a researcher on computers in education, it is my goal to study how to enhance the learning experiences of a student by locating the appropriate approach to building a learning system that is not only sensitive to the cognitive needs of the student but also to his/her emotional needs.
In the HGS, research problems in the area of computers in education were presented by experts from the Asia-Pacific region. The challenges confronted in different areas of research were pointed out. All are helpful for our future research.
The experience I had in the conference did not only involve learning about the advances in research on computers in education but also about the Thai culture. The richness of the culture was showcased not only during the opening ceremony, but also in the well-crafted bags, souvenir items and conference kits which were given out to the participants, not to mention the opportunities for learning about the Thai culture through the interactions we had with Thai participants during the entire conference period. Even within the South East Asia, the differences in the culture from one country to another, and even from one region of a given country to another, are so great that we really ought to know more about the cultures in our region, if we are to prepare for a tighter ASEAN integration by 2015.
My experience attending ICCE 2011 has inspired me to work even harder to improve the learning experience of young learners, to transfer knowledge more effectively, and to enhance students’ motivation and interest in learning. Working on the application of affective computing in learning has been very challenging for me but my overall experience in this conference has greatly encouraged me to continue my exploration in this novel area of research.
APSCE News 