Meet our new Coventry cotutelle students
20 September 2024
Introducing Nisrina Wibisono and Abdullah Mert Pekel
Nisrina Wibisono and Abdullah Mert Pekel have been awarded Cotutelle scholarships between Deakin and Coventry Universities. Their area of study will be the impact of artificial intelligence on inclusive assessment. Their lead supervisors are Dr Joanna Tai from Deakin University and Dr Dimitar Angelov from Coventry University. A cotutelle offers an exciting opportunity to undertake studies across the two universities. Nisrina will be based at CRADLE for the majority of her candidature and Mert will be based at the Centre for Global Learning, Coventry University. Both Nisrina and Mert will spend a minimum of six months at the partner university.
Their research projects will investigate critical perspectives on artificial intelligence in higher education and inclusive assessment. Below we hear from each on their motivation to undertake a PhD, their research projects and future expectations.
Nisrina Wibisono
Tell us about yourself and why you chose to do a PHD
I am Nisrina from Malang, Indonesia. I love teaching, learning, travelling, trying new things, and developing myself. I chose to pursue a PhD because I want to enhance my research skills and critical thinking, understand my research topic or interest deeper, and engage in professional development activities that lead me to become a high-quality independent researcher.
What is your PhD topic?
I am interested in conducting a comparative study investigating Australian, English, and Indonesian higher education international and native speaker students’ perspectives on generative AI-driven feedback. Being a cotutelle student motivates me to do a comparative study. My interest and background as an English language teacher in Indonesia (for around 6 years) and in Australia (for around 1.5 years) inspired me to focus on researching linguistically and culturally diverse students. CRADLE is the best place for me to do my PhD since its research focus is on assessment and feedback. CRADLE also has an amazing team that consists of many experts in those topics to help me develop my research focus and engage in a variety of discussions or activities in relation to my research topic.
What are you most looking forward to during your PhD journey?
I am looking forward to collaborating with my CRADLE friends and supervisors in research and other activities and making my PhD research more focus. I am also looking forward to exploring England, specifically Coventry, in my second year, meeting other PhD students at Coventry University in person, and experiencing white Christmas!
Abdullah Mert Pekel
Tell us about yourself and why you chose to do a PHD
I come from an education background and have a Master’s in EFL in a Turkish higher education context. In my MA thesis I explored students’ feedback on the perceived comprehension difficulties in academic English, and L2 listening comprehension skills in particular. My teaching and research experience also relates to the integration of web-based and digital tools into learning environments as well as their utilisation at scale on an institutional level. During my teaching career, I have initiated in-house projects and collaborated with institutions, including the US Department of State, for dissemination of these tools and practices. More recently, I acted as a facilitator to create a dynamic online workflow and collaborative work and study environment while switching to emergency remote teaching during COVID-19 pandemic. I had the opportunity to assist students and faculty members in sustaining their participation in the learning community in a time of distress.
I believe that this experience helped me to develop insights about the needs of faculty members and students to function in their roles. It also helped me direct my attention to carefully considering realities and dynamics of classrooms and connecting these with the higher education institution on a larger scale and eventually as an integral part of a national and global higher education policies. The potential of emerging generative AI tools motivated me to explore their impact on inclusive participation dimension in global higher education context. I am happy to be part of the international research community at Deakin University.
What is your PhD topic?
My research focuses on understanding how students with neurodivergence utilise generative AI tools throughout the lifecycles of academic writing tasks in the UK and Australian higher education contexts. I intend to analyse the manner in which neurodivergent students utilise generative AI and other writing assistance tools as part of their academic literacy. I also want to assess their level of reliance on generative AI for the completion of their academic literacy tasks. Additionally, I want to explore how generative AI use might influence neurodivergent students’ perceptions of their learning experience and beliefs about inclusion.
I believe that exploration of generative AI tools in relation to their potential contribution to inclusive practices in higher education aligns with CRADLE’s research objectives and values in promoting inclusion and equity in higher education.
What are you most looking forward to during your PhD journey?
I look forward to learning from and contributing to the international research community of Deakin University, Coventry University, and beyond. Being an educator and a lifelong learner, I think the potential positive impact on students’ learning experience is a focal point in my work. I hope that my PhD project can contribute to this effort. All the while, I aim to grow as a person. I will build further personal and academic experience and resilience in the process.
