Research projects
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News Literacy: Effects of Four Types of Media Education (2022-2026)
Abstract
The subject of the thesis is news literacy, which is the ability of media users to critically evaluate the reliability of information. The project intends to evaluate the effects of different forms of media education on the development of young people's news literacy and on their information practices. The aim is to compare, based on the same evaluation instruments, the effects of media educations following different pedagogies and organized by the École Supérieure de Journalisme located in Lille, France (ESJ Lille). This comparison will allow us to question the relevance of the dominant media education model of news literacy, offering an introduction to the practice of journalism, and leading participants to produce media content. The evaluation will involve several measures of news literacy, including (1) the ability to deconstruct media information by mobilizing multiple reading keys, (2) the ability to make reliable judgments about it, and (3) participants' online information consumption and sharing practices. The research suggests a positive contribution of (1) to (2) (deconstruction as a basis for reliability judgment) and (2) to (3) (judgmental capacities transforming actual informational practices). The project consists of a quasi-experiment with non-equivalent groups. The samples will be composed of participants in the ESJ workshops (high school students). The quasi-experimental design includes four conditions and one control condition. A "Solomon Four-Group Design" will be implemented, with half of the participants (treatment and control conditions) being subjected to a pre-test and a post-test, and the other half to a post-test only.
Researcher(s): Laureline Marc
Promoter(s): Pierre Fastrez
Research Axes: Media literacy and media education
Project type: PhD thesis in progressPartners: Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Lille
Funding: École Supérieure de Journalisme de Lille
User eXperience Driven Innovation (UXDI) (2022-2025)
Abstract
The UX-DI project aims to create the body of knowledge necessary to establish a centre of excellence in user experience (UX) for innovation projects within the AISIN group. The body of knowledge consists of models, methods and a toolbox adapted to the innovation process in the sustainable mobility and logistics sectors.
Researcher(s): Louis Amant, Suzanne Kieffer, Gloria Michiels, Luka Rukonic
Promoter(s): Suzanne Kieffer
Research Axes: User experience (UX)
Project type: ConsultancyPartners: Aisin Technical Center Europe
Funding: Aisin Technical Center Europe
Link: https://www.aisin-mobility.eu/how-we-do-it/uxdi
CRS2 (Cyber Range Scenarios) (2022-2025)
Abstract
CRS2 (Cyber Range Scenarios) is a 36-month project in the field of cyber security in partnership with the company RHEA and financed by the Public Service of Wallonia. CRS2 aims to develop the most realistic and appropriate training scenarios for cyber training centers called "Cyber Ranges". A Cyber Range is a simulation platform of a real environment in which various systems can be reproduced in a virtual environment allowing security teams to experience simulated cyber attacks, to train (attack as well as defense) and to develop their expertise. UCLouvain is responsible for the user experience (UX) axis of the project and its mission is to take into account user needs for impactful applied research and more specifically, to conduct studies with users of the current system in order to identify their training and education needs.
Researcher(s): Justine Ramelot
Promoter(s): Suzanne Kieffer
Research Axes: User experience (UX)
Project type: Research programTowards a critical education about social network interfaces: design and assessment of an educational activity for teenagers. (2022-)
Abstract
How to develop teenagers' critical skills regarding the interfaces of digital social networks (DSNs) and help them to regulate their use? To answer this question, this thesis aims at (1) documenting teenagers' representations of the influence of interfaces on their daily practices on DSNs and (2) identifying and studying pedagogical mechanisms for the development of these critical and regulatory skills. This project adopts a design-based research method that revolves around the creation and evaluation of a pedagogical activity that allows the participants to deconstruct the semiotics of the interfaces and then imagine alternative versions.
Researcher(s): Caroline Robbeets
Promoter(s): Jerry Jacques
Research Axes: Media literacy and media education
Project type: PhD thesis in progressThe impact of the media on the representations and exercise of parenthood (2021-2023)
Abstract
This project responds to the ONE Academy's call for research on the impact of digital media on the representations and exercise of parenthood. Its purpose is to produce a cartography of digital media dealing with parenthood, to document the media practices and skills of parents relating to these media; and to describe the key issues and the view of childhood professionals on these media. This is why a qualitative method was chosen, set up in co-construction with ONE professionals. This revolves around three approaches that will feed into each other: (1) interviews with a sample of parents, (2) focus groups with a sample of childhood professionals, and (3) a content analysis of a set of digital media designated by the actors as representative of their practices and/or the situations in which they are mobilized in relation to parenthood. On the basis of this analysis, the objective is to understand the way in which these resources influence the exercise of parenthood and to produce recommendations addressed to childhood professionals aimed at enabling them to better understand these digital media with the parents.
Researcher(s): Marie Bastien, Baptiste Campion, Jerry Jacques, Caroline Robbeets
Co-promoter(s): Jerry Jacques
Research Axes: Media literacy and media education
Project type: Research programPartners: ONE Academy
Augmented Data Protection Services (2021-2022)
Abstract
The main objective of this project is to increase services and to improve the efficiency of the company. We focus on collaborative intelligence rather than simply replacing humans with machines because their strengths are complementary. Scaling up services is not just about implementing software and AI; it also requires a significant investment in developing the "fusion skills " of DPMs (Data Protection Managers), i.e., the skills that enable them to work effectively with the machine. To begin with, DPMs will have to learn to delegate tasks to the application, just as when doctors had to trust computers to help them read X-rays and MRIs. The fusion interface and the resulting user experience are equally important in increasing service because they embody this technology and it is through them that emotions, trust and ultimately adoption of the application will flow. From the visual representation of a complex process to the digitization of the regulation through the integration of UX design and Agile management, the research related to this project is therefore multidisciplinary and ambitious.
Researcher(s): Daniela Magalhaes Azevedo
Promoter(s): Suzanne Kieffer
Research Axes: User experience (UX)
Project type: ConsultancyPartners: MyData-TRUST, B12
Funding: MyData-TRUST, DGO6
Method of accompanying teachers in the use of immersive media (immersive realities and metavers) in a school context, a design research in education. (2021-)
Abstract
The fundamental desire of our research is to educate teachers to enable them to to acquire autonomy and a form of confidence as well as a certain propensity to test and insert new technologies in their teaching. Our project is built around three research hypotheses and attempts, through the methodology of design-based research in education, to understand the functioning of the appropriation of complex technologies by teachers in schools. Our exploratory approach is developed through the accompaniment of three secondary school teachers with varied teaching subjects (for example, a language teacher, a science or mathematics teacher, and a history teacher) in their discovery of immersive media and more precisely of metavers within the framework of a critical and enlightened appropriation for educational and applied purposes in their respective courses. By understanding what prevents high school teachers from appropriating immersive technologies in their teaching and how to foster the development of a literacy of these new devices, we will be able to document the levers of action offering a possible movement of thought.
Researcher(s): Alessandro Cierro
Promoter(s): Thibault Philippette
Research Axes: Media literacy and media education
Project type: PhD thesis in progressFunding: Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)
Towards a Neuromedia Literacy: Educating in Gamification and Applied Neuroscience Strategies in Contemporary Media (2021-)
Abstract
For many years now, popular application designers have been surfing on knowledge in psychology and neuroscience to propose application architectures that are questionable in terms of their economic and behavioral models. The object of this research is to propose on the one hand an educational component demystifying, like a magic trick, the strategies used by the latter to condition the users as well as the means of developing strategies of good hygiene cerebral in the head of the users. On the other hand, a qualitative and quantitative exploratory component to verify the usefulness of the literacy developed on the evolution of behaviors, attitudes and psycho-physiological variables of users will be developed. Our focus group concerns young people aged 16 to 20. (thesis in progress)
Researcher(s): Alexandre Brzozowski
Promoter(s): Thibault Philippette
Research Axes: Media literacy and media education
Project type: PhD thesis in progressScience popularization practices by French-speaking youtubers and podcasters (2020-2023)
Abstract
I question the practices of popularization that take place through the creation of non-institutionalized videos and podcasts published on digital platforms, and how do these practices shape the reciprocal relationships between content creators on the Internet, the knowledge they disseminate, their audiences and the more traditional actors of scientific communication and cultural mediation. Indeed, youtubers and podcasters share knowledge in places that are not a priori "legitimate" in comparison to the scientific communication of academics, teaching manuals or courses given at school, exhibitions, museums, etc. Therefore, my research aims to understand the process of content creation on the Internet, from writing to editing, from publication to communication, especially in the context of popularization where issues of informal education and knowledge sharing are involved.
Researcher(s): Monica Baur
Promoter(s): Thibault Philippette
Co-promoter(s): Paul Bertrand
Research Axes: Learning and education through media
Project type: PhD thesis in progressFunding: FRESH (Human Sciences Research Fund) / Fund for Scientific Research - FNRS
Link: https://uclouvain.be/en/directories/monica.baur
UX artifacts as support for the communication between project stakeholders in an agile software development setting (2020-)
Abstract
Communication practices are a fundamental aspect of agile software development. Recent trends show that many organizations adopt UX practices to lead the software design and ensure competitive advantage by providing high value to users. However, little is known about what practices agile teams use to communicate UX findings amongst each other and what artifacts, methods, tools, and processes they use to facilitate the exchange of UX-related knowledge between project stakeholders. This research aims to identify and establish communication practices through an action research approach and describe the role of UX artifacts in agile communication practices. I am conducting the research directly with industry and my fieldwork consists of real software development projects. This research addresses the evolution of UX practices within an organization by focusing on the way stakeholders communicate UX findings, and how they document and communicate product and design-related concepts. To overcome some of the communication issues, I focus on the role of UX artifacts in communication practices. The research questions are: 1. What are the communication practices in agile UX software development projects? 2. How do members of different stakeholder groups understand (make sense of) UX artifacts when investigating them individually? 3. Which (UX) artifacts might act as boundary objects to cross the knowledge boundaries between stakeholder groups?
Researcher(s): Luka Rukonic
Promoter(s): Pierre Fastrez, Suzanne Kieffer
Research Axes: User experience (UX)
Project type: PhD thesis in progressPartners: AISIN Europe
The call of the wild - Study of the resilience of social representations of the forest (2019-2023)
Abstract
"The call of the wild" is a research project which aims to contribute to a reconciliation between society and forest and wood professionals - with a particular focus on young people - through interdisciplinary work open to the various stakeholders concerned, whether they come from academia, associations, public or private. The project makes it a point of honor not to take a particular bias and to respect the different ethical models involved. More specifically, the research project has three main objectives: (1) the constitution of a media observatory on forests, in order to be able to make a diagnosis of the media landscape with regard to forest issues; (2) study of social representations of the general public on forests; (3) the design of innovative communication tools to help reconcile society and wood and forestry professionals.
Researcher(s): Olivia de Briey, Julie Matagne, Alexia Vandenbergh
Promoter(s): Pierre Fastrez
Research Axes: Learning and education through media
Project type: Research programPartners: PhD Christine Farcy, International Forest Policy Expert at Public Service of Wallonia
Funding: Department of Nature and Forests of the Walloon Region (DNF), Brussels Environment (BE), Administration of nature and forests of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (ANF)
The media literacy of adolescents (13-15 years old): information search and multimedia creation (2018-2022)
Abstract
This project is the Belgian part of an international collaboration between the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Quebec, France and Switzerland, focusing on the study of media literacy, traditionally defined as the ability to access media, to understand and critically evaluate media contents, and to create media messages in a variety of contexts. Its goals are (1) to assess the media literacy levels of adolescents (13-15 years old) in the four participating countries in the specific areas of information search and content creation; (2) to develop and validate tools for the assessment of these levels; and (3) to study the relationship between the measured levels of media literacy, the self-reported levels of participants, their media practices, as well as several socio-demographic variables (gender, parental schooling and parental income). The project’s theoretical framework defines media literacy in terms of competence, involving the mobilization of original combinations of knowledge and skills in novel and complex problem-situations. The data analyzed in the research will be collected from 13-to-15-year-old students using three instruments developed for the occasion, in three successive phases: (1) a survey questionnaire on the media practices of students in information search and content creation, on their self-assessed competence levels, and on the above-mentioned socio-demographic variables; (2) a test to assess the students' media knowledge and skills based on simple tasks; and (3) a test to evaluate the students' media competence (mobilizing their knowledge and skills) on the basis of a complex task involving the authoring of a multimodal hypertext based on the results of a document search.
Researcher(s): Julia Bihl, Pierre Fastrez, Thibault Philippette, Alice T'Kint
Promoter(s): Pierre Fastrez
Co-promoter(s): Thibault Philippette
Research Axes: Media literacy and media education
Project type: Research programPartners: Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada), Université de Rouen (France), Université de Genève (Suisse), Haute Ecole Pédagogique du Vaud (Suisse)
Funding: F.R.S.-FNRS (instrument: PDR)
Using design fiction to develop a critical inquiry method in media education (2017-2023)
Abstract
My doctoral research consists in developing a critical inquiry method in media education, that is, a method that encourages pupils to ask relevant questions about digital media and technology. In this context, I am developing an educational program based on the practice of design fiction, a design practice that uses narrative structures to explore possible futures for technologies. Activities include, among others, the development of fictional prototypes, the shooting and editing of short videos presenting pupils' objects, press conferences in the format of role-playing and the production of science fiction comics. In addition to the development of the program, I am building an evaluation grid that assesses pupils’ critical inquiry competence. I use pupils’ questions that I have collected during pre- and post-tests, and I analyse them according to their content areas and degree of “criticality”.
Researcher(s): Géraldine Wuyckens
Promoter(s): Pierre Fastrez
Research Axes: Media literacy and media education
Project type: PhD thesis in progressPartners: Action Médias Jeunes (ACMJ)
Funding: Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)
Explaining the teacher's intentions in a distance learning environment (2016-2025)
Abstract
In this doctoral research, we evaluate the utility of stating the teacher's intentions in a distance learning environment. When learning takes place through interaction with a machine, there is a risk that the intentions implemented in the technology are not read by the learner in the way the teacher intended to. Therefore, we are seeking to define the conditions under which the explication of intentions allows the learner to understand the expected use of an interactive video in an educational context without generating cognitive overload. In order to answer these questions, we build an experiment that integrates different forms of explication and we evaluate their effects on learning through a post-test and semi-directive interviews. This experimental study is implemented in the practical work of the course "Information and Communication Theories" taught at UCLouvain.
Researcher(s): Alice T'Kint
Promoter(s): Pierre Fastrez
Research Axes: Learning and education through media
Project type: PhD thesis in progressFunding: Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)